TBI and SunGard Availability Services are teaming up to provide managed IT services to business and carrier class customers.

The partnership will complement TBI's investment in its data centre to support hosting of high density servers.

It is aimed at lending a helping hand to firms looking to keep costs down despite the ever-growing demand for expanding IT support and infrastructure, including data storage and protection.

TBI's portfolio of managed IT services will include remote managed IT services, data storage and replication services and managed co-location. The company says it will provide greater access to cost-effective scalable infrastructure and resources.

Bundling TBI's dedicated Internet access products and its ability to host and co-locate high density servers with SunGard's suite of managed IT services will help TBI to improve its end-to-end IT support, enabling TBI to manage its customers' access network as well as their entire IT infrastructure.

SunGard senior vice-president David Lewis said: "There is no room for compromise when it comes to keeping a client's mission-critical applications and data safe. By combining our remote managed services solution with TBI's redundant network, we are able to help TBI assure their clients experience maximum uptime and maximum data security."

Gregory Swan, TBI president and chief operating officer, said: "This is an exciting time for us. With the expansion of our world class data centre and our new partnership with SunGard Availability Services, we can assure our customers that we are and will always be forward thinking in providing high quality products and services that meet their expectations.

"Our goal is to incorporate the best resources and latest innovations into our business operations for the benefit of our customers."

SunGard provides integrated production, recovery, consulting and continuity management software solutions that improve IT efficiency and resiliency for more than 10,000 customers in North America and Europe.